Baltimore officials have been tight-lipped about the upcoming trial of Mayor Sheila Dixon on charges she stole gift cards intended for poor constituents. Dixon spokesman Scott Peterson will say only that the mayor plans to be in the courtroom come Nov. 9, when her trial is scheduled to begin, despite speculation she may cut a deal with prosecutors.

“From the beginning she has always maintained her innocence; nothing has changed,” he said in a phone interview Tuesday.

Since her indictment earlier this year on 12 counts of perjury, theft, and misconduct in office, the case against the first-term mayor has been subject to intense media scrutiny.

But the people that work, live and play in Baltimore had much to say about the fate of the city's first female mayor just days before her trial was set to begin.

Some expressed weariness with the mayor’s legal travails, characterizing the entire saga as an unnecessary distraction in a city with a host of more pressing ills. Others said the charges were further evidence that the city is irreparably corrupt.